This invention relates to providing a system for improved management of weak patients, especially invalid patients and other bed-ridden individuals having limited independent mobility. More particularly, this invention relates to providing a system for assisted and unassisted movement of an individual within a hospital bed.
In general, the care of bed-confined individuals having limited independent mobility is a physically demanding task. Often, the movement of the patient within the bed requires strenuous, often dangerous, lifting of the patient by one or more caregivers. Management of the bariatric patient is especially difficult, often requiring several individuals working together to reposition the patient from a prone to a comfortably inclined position. Furthermore, the inclined individual has a tendency to gradually slide downwardly into an uncomfortable position requiring periodic repositioning, frequently requiring, for heavier patients, the muscles of several caregivers. Therefore, a need exists for easy-to-use, economical, and durable systems providing assistance in repositioning of bed-confined individuals, thus reducing stress imposed on the patients, nurses, caregivers, or anyone providing care to the patient.